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Oct 17, 2018

Auto parts suppliers warn hard Brexit may set UK back 25 years

BRUSSELS: Failure to secure a trade deal for Britain when it exits the
EU next year could set the UK auto sector back two decades, leading
parts suppliers said on Wednesday as they urged leaders to reach
agreement at a summit in Brussels.
Europe’s carmakers’ lobby ACEA and suppliers’ association CLEPA, along
with BMW and brakes maker Brembo, jointly warned that a no-deal exit
would be catastrophic for the industry.
The “just-in-time” industry model relied on frictionless trade between Britain and mainland Europe, they said.
“If we are continuing to be taken hostage by this situation, the
flourishing UK auto industry could come back to the situation it was at
20-25 years ago,” said Roberto Vavassori, a management board member at
Brembo and president of CLEPA.
FASTFACTS

Some 1,100 trucks arrive in Britain every day from elsewhere in the country with parts for the UK auto sector.

The recovery of Britain’s auto sector in the 20 years since the decline
of British Leyland and its successor Rover Group was based on investment
from around the world, he said.
Vavassori said he felt “betrayed” that Brembo’s manufacturing in
Coventry, UK, would be a different prospect post-Brexit from the time of
its investment 15 years ago.
ACEA said contingency planning by its members included temporary
production shutdowns and scouting for warehouse space to stockpile
parts.
“No amount of contingency planning can realistically cover all the gaps
left by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on WTO terms,” ACEA said,
referring to a no-deal scenario in which Britain would have no
preferential access to EU markets.
Some 1,100 trucks arrive in Britain every day from elsewhere in the
country with parts for the UK auto sector, and storage space to cover
more than a day or two of production was not feasible.
The EU leaders’ meeting from Wednesday had hoped to reach a provisional
Brexit deal before signing off on a withdrawal agreement at a special
Brexit summit
in November.
The talks, stalled since Sunday, are stuck over the issue of how to
avoid a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and
the Irish Republic.
BMW said that its survey of
Brexit preparedness showed only 10 percent of British automotive
suppliers and 41 percent of EU suppliers considered they were well
prepared for Brexit, with many having little or no experience of customs
clearing.
Stephan Freismuth, customs manager at BMW, said that at the Channel tunnel and ports such as Dover there was no customs
infrastructure and, in some cases, no space for trucks awaiting checks to park.https://www.geezgo.com/sps/43209